Mineral County 4-H

4-H & Youth Development

By far, 4-H is the most known and visible Extension development program, best known for its 4-H Clubs and summer 4-H Camps, but Extension also offers literacy and adult volunteer leadership programming related to 4-H and youth development.

4-H is a youth organization which is administered by the Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service of the United States Department of Agriculture. The name 4-H was derived from the four personal development areas of focus for the organization which are head, heart, hands, and health. These four areas are represented by the emblem of a green four leaf clover with a white H on each leaf to represent each fold of personal development.

The organization serves over 6.5 million members in the United States from ages 5-21 in approximately 90,000 clubs. 4-H programs in over 80 countries have been created to serve the youth of the world. The goal of 4-H is to develop citizenship, leadership, and life skills of youth through mostly experimental learning programs. The motto of 4-H is “To Make the Best Better” where the youth “Learn by Doing”.

Mineral County serves over 221 4-H members and cloverbuds within 11 clubs throughout the county and also has an active volunteer base of parents that is vital to the organization. Mineral County 4-H offers a wide variety of activities for its members such as an active teen leader organization who helps with Raze and water quality programs. Mineral County 4-H has a variety of judging teams for its youth such as the 4-H Livestock and Horse judging teams. Mineral County 4-H has two weeks of summer camp (Older and Younger) along with a special day of camp just for cloverbuds. 4-H also helps to serve the youth of Mineral County in other areas through programs like Energy Express and outreach programs through a family nutrition program and instructor.